What drew you to use bold colours and mixed media in your designs? “The power of colour is sometimes underestimated. I would like to bring out the joy, the warmth or the coldness from the viewer, through my choice of colours. I play with mixed-media because I like to create materials that go beyond boundaries.”

What’s your favourite piece of jewellery? “The 1920s-style pearl earrings my mum gave me, because they are simple. I really like 1920s design and I can see both my mum and myself in that pair of earrings.”

You live in London but travel to Shanghai for work. Tell us what each city offers you? “I love both cities because they inspire me in different ways. London stimulates my creativity but the winter is horrible, with very little daylight. Shanghai gives me a new perspective, it’s so familiar yet new every time.”

What inspires you? “I love paintings by artists like Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Georgia O’Keeffe and sculptures by Henry Moore, [Constantin] Brancusi and Barbara Hepworth. I watch quite a few documentaries, too. I travel as much as I can – it’s always wonderful to see other cultures.”

Tell us about your collaboration with Daniel Xuzhi chen, of fashion label Xu Zhi. “We have been collaborating for three seasons now. We both have a passion for textiles. I manipu­lated the yarns he uses in his collection and created jewellery out of them. The collection is inspired by Gerhard Richter’s paintings – merging reality and visual art: it’s very bold and graphic.”